Clubmark / NGB Accreditation

SASSOT recognises and values the commitment made by sports clubs to develop high quality, welcoming environments for young people. The development of clubs that encourage young people to take-up sport, improve their talents and give them the option to initiate and maintain life-long participation in sport is an essential part of our work to support the sporting infrastructure throughout Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.

Club accreditation is endorsed by all the main sporting, youth and education agencies involved in the delivery of sporting opportunity for young people as clubs with quality assured junior sections.

There are currently 3 types of accreditation that sports clubs can achieve in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent;

Clubmark

Clubmark is the only national cross sports quality accreditation scheme for clubs with junior sections.

A club is accredited via either its licensed National Governing Body (NGB) or SASSOT. It must, therefore, be affiliated to the relevant Sport England recognised NGB in order to be accredited. It is built around a set of core criteria which ensure that accredited clubs operate to a set of consistent, accepted and adopted minimum operating standards and comply with minimum operating standards in these four areas:

• The Playing Programme         
• Safeguarding and Protecting Children
• Knowing your Club and its Community 
• Club Management
  

SASSOT QualityMark

SASSOT have recently developed a club accreditation award called QualityMark, this is for sports clubs throughout the county that are not eligible to apply for Clubmark or FA Charter Standard.

These would include many clubs and organisations that do not have an NGB or there NGB is not recognised by Sport England (see below table for an example list of sports);

FA Charter Standard

The FA Charter Standard Scheme is club accreditation specifically for football clubs and it is a core component of The FA Football Development programme. The scheme establishes minimum standards for football development and acts as a quality assurance mechanism recognising well run schools, colleges, clubs and holiday courses.

In summary the FA Charter Standard rewards organisations who demonstrate a commitment to raising standards in the following areas:

• Administration
• Coaching
• Child Protection

For further information on Charter Standard please contact Gareth Thomas, Football Development Officer at Staffordshire Football Association on 01785 256994 or gareth.thomas@staffordshirefa.com

http://www.thefa.com/GetIntoFootball/CharterStandard/Club

Benefits of Club Accreditation

As a single, national standard, Club Accreditation gives sports clubs of all types structure and direction.Clubs awarded accreditation have seen many tangible benefits, such as:

• Club Development - The foundation for any club is its youth structure. The club accreditation process is designed to assist clubs to attract and cater for young members, and build a strong future.
• Increased Membership - Addressing issues like equity and child protection gives parents confidence when choosing a club for their children
• Retaining Members - Club accreditation stimulates real thought about how clubs cater for junior and all members. The culture it promotes boosts the morale of players and ensures that volunteers are recognised for their contributions.
• Continuous improvement - Accreditation encourages a club to adopt better, more organised systems and structures, thus helping them to run more effectively and efficiently.
• Developing coaches - As part of accreditation, clubs are entitled to receive help to develop the skills of coaches. This, in turn leads to better quality provision and improved player performance. Parents can be confident that appropriately qualified coaches are deployed.
• Volunteers - Club accreditation promotes a volunteer culture where hard work and dedication is recognised. Once accredited, clubs find more people are keen to get involved, especially parents.
• Links with schools - Increasingly, schools are looking for guarantees of quality and the presence of child- friendly systems and procedures. Accredited clubs are normally the first invited to work with local schools and schools are being encouraged to signpost pupils to accredited clubs.
• Funding - Many funding bodies state that applicants must be accredited or working towards.
• Facilities - More and more local authorities and other leisure operators give priority-booking slots to accredited clubs. Some also offer discounted rates for facility hire.
• Raised Profile - Once accredited, clubs will be listed on local, county and national database to help them attract new members and grow